Gather it from memory.



Let it touch the earth.

In Touch the Earth, Drew Jackson continues the project he began in God Speaks Through Wombs, reflecting on the Gospel of Luke through poetry. Touch the Earth picks up in chapter nine and continues through the end of Luke's Gospel. Part protest poetry, part biblical commentary, Jackson presents the gospel story in all its liberative power. Here the gospel is the "fresh words / that speak of / things impossible."

From the feeding of the multitude ("The best hosts always provide / take home containers") to the resurrection of Jesus ("the belly of mother Earth / is, indeed, a womb . . . the humus of life is where we become fully human), this collection helps us hear the hum of deliverance—against all hope—that's been in the gospel all along.



Drew Jackson is a poet, speaker, and public theologian whose writing explores the intersection of justice, peace, and contemplation. He is the author of two poetry collections, God Speaks Through Wombs: Poems on God's Unexpected Coming and Touch the Earth: Poems on The Way. Drew is on staff with the Center for Action and Contemplation and lives with his wife and twin daughters in Brooklyn, New York.



Foreword by Pádraig Ó Tuama

Part I: Journey

I. Students



Touch the Earth



Take Nothing



Shake the Dust



In Their Garden



House of Hunting, House of the Hunter



SilenceDisrupted



We Feed Each Other



Leftovers



Streets Is Talking



Crazy Talk



Sōtēr, Pt. II



Inner Circle



Transfigured



The Tragedy of the Disinherited



Human Hands



And What of Greatness?



With or Against



Like Flint



A Rebuke



The Call in Three Movements

II. Neighbors



Squad Up



A Harvest of Dreamers



Romulus and Remus



Instructions for the Freedom Struggle



Maledictions



Power to the People



To Liveand to Live On



Apokalypsis (Tell Me)



Touch Yo' Neighbor



Nobody Talks About the Road



For Those Who Choose to Sit

III. Prayer



A Certain Place



Curious Observation



Pray Then Like This



Imagine, or, Suppose



Thoughts on Asking, Seeking, and Knocking



Ode to Pop



Silenced



This Haunted House



Redemption



Blessedness



The Sign of Jonah



Washing Dishes



Weightier Matters



When the Truth Insults Me



Monuments

IV. Hypocrisy



Meanwhile



Hypocrisy



Eyes on the Sparrow



Blasphemy



Ode to the Savings Account



Pigeon Economics



Four Boys



Miles



When the Rain Comes

V. Tyrants



There Are Pontius Pilates in Every Age



Survivor's Guilt



To Become a Flower



Which Lives?



Don't Despise Small Beginnings



Eschatology



Ask Them Why



Foxes



A Lament for the Prophets We've Killed

VI. Dinner Guest



Thanksgiving Etiquette



Lex Et Ordo



Breaking



Saint Coltrane



With Strings Attached



I Am a Conflict-Free Zone



We All Eat



These Bags



Salty Ghazal

VII. Found



For the Ones Called Lost



This Side of the Pasture



To Be Still Is to Be Found



There is a Great Joy That Waits



Prodigal



Give Me My Share



Distant Country



Brink



When I Came to Myself



Rehearsal



Where the Road and Sky Shake Hands



Like a Slave

VIII. Economics



Rich Man



Situation Ethics



Interrogating Mammon



For the Love



Wishes



Dog Spells God Backwards



Threshold



When the Prophets Come

IX. Kingdom Come



Stumbling Blocks



Be on Guard



If Another Disciple Sins



Pine-Sol and Gospel Music



Every Living Thing Was Once a Seed



Gold Star



For I Am Like Jonah



KindnessTravels



Roses for God



The Faces of the Blessed



The Kingdom of Trees



Ordinary Days



Remember Lot's Wife



Aetos

X. Mercy



The Virtue of Annoyance



When Hatred Goes to Church



Facing Heaven



Blocking Blessing



Even Infants



What Must I Do?



Mortally Impossible



Comprehension



What Do You Want Me to Do for You?

XI. Reparation



Wee Little Man



Tree Climbing



I Think It WasBrunch



No Repentance Without Repair



The Waiting Game

Part II: Jerusalem

XII. Triumph



Beast of Burden



Hosanna



Singing Rocks



The Last Frontier



Flipping Tables

XIII. Questions



Haiku: Unanswered



Beautiful Rejection



Machinations



Give to Caesar



In the Age to Come



For the Sake of Appearance

XIV. Warnings



Butterscotch Hard Candy



Building Campaign



Before It All Ends



Imminence



When the Powers of Heaven Shake



Sometimes Death Comes



N.Y. State of Mind

XV. Passion



30 Pieces



Upper Room



Eucharisteo



This Is My Body



This Cup



Towel and Basin



The Kingdom Is Ours



Sifted



Two Swords



A Stone's Throw



Kiss of Death



Peirasmos



Like a King



Death Row Trial #1

XVI. Death



Death RowTrial #2



Death Row Trial #3



Death Row Trial #4



Via Crucis: Sweet Blackness



Via Crucis: Daughters of Jerusalem



Via Crucis: Two Others



Forgive Them, Father



The Ninth Hour



Spectacle



Saturday

XVII.Resurrection



Under the Ground



Emmaus



Paranormal Activity



Fish Fry



Ascension



Acknowledgments



"In Touch the Earth, Drew Jackson gives us language for how to move through the earth and toward one another."



"This collection is a companion for mystics and storytellers alike. Poem after poem, Drew Jackson approaches questions of community and trust and meets them not with the bore of certainty but a reverence for the unspoken, for mystery and suspense. Jackson's words will leave you waiting in the silence . . . but never alone."



"There are seasons for prose and seasons for poetry, and we find ourselves, certainly, in the latter. I can think of no better guide and no more insightful voice for this moment than Drew Jackson's. Drew's ability to challenge and surprise through language and rhythm is unparalleled, and I'm so grateful for these poems."



"In Touch the Earth, Drew Jackson's poetry offers a word-weary world a new language of engagement, disruption, and insight. As with all great poetry, the words are spare, but the literary images loom large, creating indelible impressions onthe reader. Like echoes that reverberate long after the first sound, the poems stay with you, they dance with your spirit. After reading the poem 'Shake the Dust,' I am still considering a much broader definition of power, one no longer confined to the monarchs, governments, and oppressors but with a conscience as sticky as cling wrap that refuses to allow its memories to be shaken loose. This collection is a meditative treasure."



"I'm one of those people who likes the idea of reading poetry more than actually reading it. Occasionally, however, I stumble on a poet like Drew Jackson, whose lyrical language and urgent themes set a hook in me. Drawing on the liberating Jesus of Luke's Gospel, Jackson explores heritage, history, and a longing for freedom. Touch the Earth pushes back against the spirit of scarcity and invites readers into an achingly authentic spirituality. Whether you are a 'poetry person' or not, this book will leave you mesmerized."



"Touch the Earth is an interdisciplinary work full of Blackness, divinity, grief, community, and many other elements of life that make us human, specific yet universal. It's not a text that one can digest quickly. Each word has to seep into the grooves of the body."



"Drew Jackson's poetry touches something very deep in me as he exposes truths not easily spoken of directly and yet truths that must be told . . . and faced. I pray you will partake of Drew's newest collection of poems with an open heart and an open Bible, engaging familiar stories with new and different eyes. Promise me you will not rush through them but that you will sit still and ponder, for a very long time, on what these things might mean. Promise me you will sit with the questions these poems raise until God speaks and tells you what is yours to do in response. I know that's what I will be doing!"